Home is where my heart is

You know what they say: Time flies when you are having fun. I must be having fun because time has sure flown since I got home! Words can’t express how good it feels to be HOME. My real home, with my real family, my friends, my real bed, my favorite food, my church, my car, and ENGLISH! Home is where my heart is.

I’ll always remember what the first few days that I was home were like (and I can only imagine how it will be when I come home in December, after being away for twice as long!). Being home felt surreal! As my last flight began it’s landing in LOUISVILLE my heart began to beat rapidly and I was filled with giddy. I pushed my way past everyone on the plane and ran through the gate as soon as I was through the crowd. I walked briskly, so excited to finally be HOME! In the distance I saw my family and friends and began running again to meet them! Oh what a joyous encounter! My whole family (with the exception of Zach, the other world traveler) as well as Shelby, Cathy, Joanna, Peter and Rebekah were all waiting for me! This was the moment I had been looking forward to for so long. I was with the people I love.

We drove home that night and I walked into my house… everything about Costa Rica started to feel like a distant dream. I went up to my room and just stood there, taking it all in. My bed, my carpet, my pictures, my mail… everything was just the way that I had left it. Josh brought me my iphone and I had to remind myself how to use it. Texting, what was that again?! I took a shower and hopped into my bed. As my exhausted body slipped under the warm flannel covers of my comfortable bed for the first time in eight weeks, I couldn’t keep myself from making actual noises: “Ooooooo, YES, YEEEESSSSS, Thank you LORD!! Oooo O O.”

The next morning I went to church – Southeast Christian Church! My favorite church in the whole world! It was such a sweet and amazing service! Kyle preached on God’s grace and forgiveness and over 300 people repented and were baptized! What an incredible testimony of the power of God still working here in America! I couldn’t help but wonder: IS THIS REALLY MY LIFE?!

The first week that I was home was spent doing everything that I had been deprived of for the previous eight weeks. I ran in my neighborhood, spent time with my family, enjoyed my mom’s cooking, went to the mall, had sleepovers with my friends and so much more. We had a cookout in the beginning of the week to welcome home both Zach and I. Most of our friends came and it was SO fun to see them again and to catch-up on everyone’s lives! Rebekah was even in town that week so I was able to spend a few days with her – such a treat!

The first full weekend that I was home, we went on a Feinn family camping trip! Jenna came with us for one night and it was SO great to see her and to spend some time with her! Zach had about nine friends come along as well, so in total, we had a pretty large group! We rented a boat for the weekend and enjoyed some time out on the lake. It would have been perfect if it hadn’t been SO sweltering hot (It felt like hot yoga, camping style) or if it hadn’t rained the second night we were there. It rained so hard, that Katie and I ended-up sleeping in the suburban! But even with these little camping trials, many memories were made and it was a wonderful weekend!

The second week (last week) was spent much like the first. I was busy every day. I packed in as much time as possible with Cathy and Shelby before they left for college. Thursday night was spent at Shelby’s house. I awoke Friday morning to my mom calling me to inform me that she was on her way to Nebraska and asking me to come home.

A few hours later, we received the news that my Grandfather, Myron Cate, had passed into eternity. For those who don’t know his story, he had been sick for years, plagued with Parkinson’s disease and Prostate Cancer. We expected him to pass sometime this summer, and actually expected it to be sooner. God’s timing is perfect, and I’m glad that it happened while I was home. Grandpa’s suffering was finally ended and he is now in Heaven with Jesus – truly living. He lived a life devoted to Christ and left a legacy. I wish that I had been able to get to know him better while he was here in this life, but I’m looking forward to spending eternity with him.

With this turn of events, Mom was scheduled to be in Nebraska for a complete week. This meant that Gram and I would be sharing her responsibilities of homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, transporting, and running the household during her absence. I’m glad that I could be home to help out with this; but a little sad because that meant one less week with my mom.

On Sunday night, I went down to Western with Katie to help out with M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan (Freshman week) and to see all of my friends one last time before I head back to Costa Rica. We were only there through Monday night, but it was a great visit. Sunday night we met up with a lot of our friends (Josh, Zach, Lukas, Omar, Andrew, Katie, Jenna, Emily, and Ashton) at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Omar and I conversed in Spanish, which was so fun! It’s hard for me to see a change in my Spanish since it’s very gradual, but he hasn’t seen me since last semester and was really excited about how much my Spanish had improved. (I’m still thinking that he was just being nice, but nonetheless, it was encouraging!). Afterwards, we went and watched a movie at Zach and Lukas’ apartment, followed by a trip to Steak n’ Shake. All in all, it was a very fun night and I LOVED getting to see everyone again! Katie, Ashton, Emily, and I all stayed in Jenna’s apartment that night. Jenna and I stayed up pretty late talking. ☺

The next morning we helped CRU pass-out water/popsicles and information about their ministry and events for that week. I loved getting to be a part of this and getting to meet some of the new freshman. That night we had the first CRU for the semester. It was a full house – packed with freshman! PTL – Praise the Lord! Ashton (a good friend of mine from my Bible study) gave a little testimony about how CRU impacted her life and encouraged the freshman to get involved with a Bible study. Then Omar gave a similar testimony about Fall get-away. The band was led by a lot of my friends including Hannah. It was so sweet to be there for the first CRU and to see how much God has done in the last year. A year ago, I didn’t know any of these people and I was just like all of those freshmen sitting in the audience: a little scared and intimidated, but eager and excited for the new chapter. Now, I was watching some of my closest friends leading! The same friends whom a year ago, were also freshman! God has blessed my life in so many ways through CRU and through friends and my prayer is that He does the same for this year’s freshman. I’m really sad that I won’t be a part of this semester, but excited to come back and see all that He has done!

After CRU, I tearfully said my goodbyes to my friends. It was hard and very sad. I hated having to say goodbye to Hannah. She and I have been in almost every class together and I love her so much. She has been a blessing from God since day one when we decided to be best friends and then soon realized that we had already met in an airport in Miami earlier that summer. She’s been my study partner and a constant encourager and companion in my classes. Since I’m studying abroad this semester, I’m going to be a semester behind her and we won’t be able to take all of our classes together anymore – truly a downside of this decision. It was also really hard to say goodbye to Jenna, Ashton, Jill, Katie… and the list goes on! After CRU, Tyler drove Katie and I back to Louisville and I said my sad goodbyes to them as well.

Since then, I’ve been at home, helping Gram babysit my family. It’s been great to spend some time with my siblings. Gabe, Livy and I have been doing crafts, making cookies, turning my bed into a fort, and having sleepovers. I’ve enjoyed spending time with Gram in the kitchen. Last night Dad and I took the little kids on a pleasant walk in the neighborhood, and tonight Josh and Isaac and I went to Dairy Queen and then walked around Target. Home is truly where my heart is. Thank you Lord for this sweet time with my family and may I take advantage of every opportunity while I have it and cherish every moment.

This is not goodbye, but rather, see you soon.

Estoy terminado para el verano! No puedo creerlo.

I headed to school early this morning so that I could prepare for our graduation presentation. Each conversation class (there are five) had to perform something for the ceremony. My class played a game with the audience. We asked them questions in Spanish, describing an animal sound, and they had to figure out which animal it was and make the appropriate sound. We had three volunteers, and whoever made the right sound first, got one point. The person at the end of the game to win the most points won a bag of skittles. Then we taught them how to make a giraffe out of balloon animals. To do this, I demonstrated while Esther used mandatos in Spanish to explain each step along the way (mandatos are spanish commands). I came early to school so that I could blow-up a balloon for each person who would be at the ceremony so that everyone would have one to make.

During class, we practiced our gig as well as more subjuntivo (uggggg… those of you who have ever studied Spanish know what a pain subjuntivo is! The past few weeks, we learned a different form of subjuntivo every single day in my grammar class! Now it’s all jumbled up in my brain and I need to figure out how to actually use it!). I know that I’ve talked about this before on my blog, but I LOVE my conversation class. My sweet sweet teacher, Laura, is my favorite Spanish teacher that I’ve ever had! I’ll be sad to no longer be her student!

The graduation ceremony was great! It was so fun to watch each class do their performance! Two of the classes performed a skit together. One class sang a song, and for another class, a girl read the Cinderella story in Spanish and had volunteers from the audience act it out as she was reading (I was one of the evil step sisters).

Our gig went great! It was actually pretty fun! The audience had difficulties constructing balloon animals, but luckily we had practiced it enough that the other girls in my class knew how to do it and we were all able to help the audience with theirs. During class, I had made balloon hats for the four of us from my class to wear during our gig. They were quite extravagant. See for yourself in the picture!

I’m so thankful for the friends that God blessed me with this summer! The cool part is that most of them will be back at the institute this fall to take a four-month class until December! Although I’ll be at a university and no longer within walking distance of their houses, I’ll still be in the same city and only a bus ride away! Saying goodbye wasn’t sad because we’ll all be coming back and I’m looking forward to hanging out with them in the fall!

After school I got to skype con mi mejor amiga, Ellie! We talked for two hours! I LOVE talking to Ellie; talking to her turns a good day into a fantastic day. We hadn’t been able to catch-up in awhile so the two hours felt like two minutes. ☺

The highlight of my day occurred after dinner. It was my last dinner with celcy and Willy and they went out and got Chinese food to celebrate (this is a big deal! We never ever do that! This was the first time in the whole eight weeks that I have been here that we have eaten food that was purchased from a restaurant!)! I was so excited because after dinner I was going to give them the gift that I’ve been waiting for MONTHS to give them! Before coming to Costa Rica, I bought a serving tray with four picture slots from Target to give to my host family as a parting gift. I brought this heavy tray with me all the way here and have been hiding it in my suitcase all summer. Celcy and Willy don’t have a camera, but Celcy loves photography. All summer they have enjoyed having me take pictures. Everywhere that we went, they always made sure that I brought my camera. And when we were out and about, Celcy would look for opportunities for me to take pictures. She was constantly having me pose in front of flowers and trees and with her friends etc. That’s been something fun that has bonded us this summer.

Early this week I went to the market and got fifteen of my favorite pictures from this summer printed out. Then when no one was home, I brought out the tray and put four pictures inside of it and wrapped it up with wrapping paper. This morning I finished the preparations by writing a card for them and placing the rest of the pictures inside the card. Tonight after dinner, I finally gave them the gift! I was SO excited to give it to them; I could hardly wait! To my surprise! They also had a gift for me! They have me a necklace with a locket shaped like a heart! Celcy actually made it for me! They said it’s for me to always remember them… and then Willy added: at least until you get a boyfriend and he gives you a new one. – Ha!

I wish that I could have video taped Celcy and Willy opening their gift. I’d watch it over and over and over again. In my list of top ten gifts that I’ve ever given, this is certainly on the list. I can’t even describe their reaction when they opened it. First of all, Celcy read my card out loud and we looked through the pictures. They LOVED the pictures! We looked at them for a long time before they opened the gift. She was so excited about the pictures that I thought she was going to cry. Then she finally opened the gift; however, she opened it very… very slowly, carefully pulling the wrapping paper off to preserve it for a later use. The large shape made them very curious, as they had no idea what it could be. When celcy finally lifted the paper off, revealing the photo tray, she gasped and her eyes instantly filled with tears. She couldn’t stop exclaiming praises and gratitude. Willy was equally shocked and thrilled. They had never seen anything like it. They kept turning it over and feeling the wood and looking at the pictures. Celcy’s voice was emotional as she kept repeating how much she loved it while blinking away the tears. They both gave me a great big hug. This whole thing also made me emotional and I had to push back some tears as well.

God has been so incredibly good to place me in their home this summer. I didn’t just rent a room from them this summer, they adopted me into their family and I did life with them for two months! They took me everywhere that they went this summer and included me in everything; so much so that they introduced me to people as their daughter. Every night we would eat dinner together and I cherish that time. We would talk about everything from the food we were eating to their past lives, my life, politics and the list goes on! They are my Tico family and I’ll always treasure my time with them. I’m thankful that tomorrow I won’t be saying goodbye, but rather: see you soon. Things will be different when I come back since I won’t be living with them anymore and won’t even be in the same neighborhood; however, that won’t stop me from visiting them.

Looking back, it’s been a challenging summer in so many ways, but wonderful all at the same time. Once again, God has provided for me and blessed me in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. This is His project and I’m so thankful that He’s got it all figured-out and that I just get to join Him in this adventure! And now, I'm elated to be going back to my real home for a few short weeks. Bring it on. :]

God projects

Today is my last day here in Costa Rica for this summer! I can’t even believe it! Looking back it seems like it went quickly, but at the same time, it seems like forever since I was home! Today is going to be a great day. After school I have a graduation ceremony. Then I’m going to spend the evening with my host family. Hopefully I’ll be able to write an update about today, later on.

The highlight of my last week here was getting the chance to teach Bible study on Wednesday night – in Spanish! About three weeks ago I started going to a Bible study with my friends from school. A tico family that has been hosting students from school for over 20 years (they say that they have had over 200 students live with them!) holds a Bible study at their house every Wednesday night. The Bible study is for both Ticos from the community and students. The members of the host family are devote Christians and they genuinely want to help students learn Spanish and to equip them for the mission field. The bible study is a great opportunity for the students to utilize their Spanish skills because a different student leads Bible study every week. And since the host family only speaks Spanish, that forces everyone to step out of their comfort zone and use the skill they have been learning every day!

Well three weeks ago was my first time at this Bible study. I loved it! After it was over, they asked me and another girl if either of us would be willing to lead it the next week. My friend declined, so I volunteered! Ahhh, what had I just gotten myself into!? After all, I was a newbie! As the next week approached, I started preparing the lesson; however, in tune to Latin American culture, the Bible study got canceled for some unknown reason that week (Here in Costa Rica, if something starts at 12:00, that really means 12:15 - 12:30ish, and if ticos make plans, there’s about a 50% chance that they won’t happen…). So this week Bible study picked back up and I was still scheduled to teach.

My mom gave me the idea to teach on Mark 9 when Jesus healed the deaf and mute boy who also had an evil spirit living inside of him. My prayer while preparing for the Bible study was that the message that God wanted each person to hear was received despite my imperfections in Spanish. I was a little bit nervous when it finally came time, but I think that it went really well! I had everything written out exactly how I wanted to say it, so it was a challenge not to just read the lesson to everyone.

I had broken the lesson up into different sections. I had someone read a few verses of the main passage in Spanish and then in English and then I had other people read other verses that enhanced that section. To do this I had written each verse out on a separate note-card and numbered each note card in the order that they were to be read. The front of the note card said the reference of the verse that they were to look up and read in their Spanish Bibles, and the other side of the note card had the actual verse written out in English for them to read after they read it in Spanish. (There were students of all levels at the Bible study. Some who had only been learning Spanish since our program started, and some that were fluent. And thus, I wanted to read the scripture in both languages to ensure that everyone was able to understand that part). This note card system worked really well! I handed all the note cards out at the very beginning and everyone looked up their verse(s) so that as we went along, everyone was ready. There were enough verses so that each person was able to read at least one, some read up to three. This was great, because it got everyone participating and involved.

I also incorporated lots of questions into the lesson. Some of the questions were really simple, such as comprehension questions like: Who tried to heal the boy and couldn’t? Or: What did Jesus say was the reason that the disciples could not heal the boy? I also asked application questions such as: how does this story apply to our lives? What are some examples? I had my own answers prepared, which was good, because sometimes no one had anything to say (I’m sure they had answers, but sometimes it is difficult to communicate in Spanish on the spot like that – especially if you are a beginner). In such cases, I was able to give an example and use that to continue teaching and to keep things moving. I was a little bit worried before hand that I wouldn’t always understand their answers and be able to appropriately respond (because that’s not something that you can prepare for ahead of time!). But God is awesome because for the most part, I understood everything that everyone said! And, the mom of the host family was great! She was so helpful. She understood everything that I said and even added more to the lesson and articulated what I wasn’t able to say. She was really a blessing!

Overall, the main message of the lesson was that Christ gives us power, but that we can’t do anything without Him. We have to acknowledge Him and seek his help through prayer. If we try to do things on our own, then we either fail, or we miss out on the many blessings and the extraordinary things that could happen if we had let Jesus be in control. God gives us projects, just like the disciples. They were doing great things for Jesus, things that He had given them to do; however, we still need His help for every step along the way. We can’t accomplish any of our God given projects without Him. I felt that this was a very applicable message for us as we were all in Costa Rica doing a “God project” – learning Spanish (and believe me, learning another language with the goal of fluency is no easy task!). I also knew that each person also had other projects in his or her lives that were difficult. Such as aspects of their ministries, raising a family in a foreign country, raising support etc. And this is why my prayer was that God’s message for each individual person would be received. I didn’t know what each person needed to hear, who needed to be encouraged or who might be struggling with some tough God projects in their lives – but God knew. In closing, I used one of my favorite verses to encourage them (a verse that I tend to cling to around finals time…haha!):

Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

I know that God answered my prayer! After the Bible study, I walked home with another student. She has been in Costa Rica for a while and is now fluent in Spanish. She and her husband will be finishing their Spanish classes at the end of next week and then hopefully moving with their little kids to the mission field. As we were walking home, she shared with me that most of their support fell down the tube when the economy in the U.S. crashed. She said that this year has been extremely difficult because of that. The day of the Bible study, she had had a breakdown at lunch because they couldn’t even buy their plane tickets to go back to the U.S. to raise support. She laughed as she said that hearing the lesson, she knew that God was saying that she just need to trust Him and let it be His project. Wow! God is so great!

I absolutely loved getting to use my Spanish for something practical, something beyond doing little oral reports in class – something that glorified God! That’s truly what it’s all about! That’s why I’m here learning Spanish. Not so that I can enhance my résumé someday, but so that I can actually use it for the glory of God! I want to be able to communicate, encourage, and help Spanish speakers who might not otherwise be able to communicate. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use my Spanish in the future, because I honestly have no clue! But nights like last Wednesday give me a little taste of what’s to come someday, and I’m thankful for the opportunities, the God projects, that He gives me TODAY.

Día de virgin de los Angeles

Remember last week when I wrote that my goal was to post something on my blog everyday? Yeah, maybe next time I should set lower goals, as I obviously didn’t meet that one! Well, better late than never as they say. ☺

This past weekend was full of adventures!

Saturday I participated in a Catholic holiday here in Cost Rica called, virgin de los Angeles Day. The actual holiday was Monday, but Costa Rican’s celebrated it all weekend. It is a day dedicated to the patron saint of Costa Rica, a little tiny black statue of Mary. Since the day that I arrived in Costa Rica, I have been hearing about this special time! The Catholic Church in Cartago is the dwelling place for la negrita (Mary). All weekend, devoted Catholics (and curious Christians like myself!) made the pilgrimage to Cartago on foot. They walk for hours - days even to reach the temple. Once they arrive, they get down on their knees and prayerfully inch toward the front of the sanctuary where la negrita is displayed in all her glory (she even wears a special dress that weekend made of gold – ha). They believe that Mary is their gateway to God. She has the power to heal, give blessings, and grant miracles. Essentially, (although they wouldn’t say this) she has replaced Jesus Christ.

Last week as I was eating breakfast, Willy asked me if I wanted to walk with them to Cartago. Without even considering what I was agreeing to I said: Sure! And it was sealed; Celsy and I, as well as our neighbors - Vivian and Fernando, would walk to Cartago on Saturday. Thankfully, Cartago is only about 11 miles away from San José. As the week went on, I started getting more and more excited about this adventure. I’m so glad that I was able to do it. Celcy told me that she has wanted to do it her whole life but never has. For the last four years she has been trying to get someone to do it with her and no one has ever committed. So because I run every morning, she thought I might like to do it with her, and our neighbors joining in as well made it even better!

Saturday finally came. We had a lunch loaded with carbs: bread, rice, fruit, beans, chicken, and fruit-juice. At 2:00 we loaded in the car and Willy drove us to the center of San José. He was pretty funny. He had no desire to walk with us; however, I think he still wanted to feel like he was a part of this adventure (we did talk about it ALL week, I’m sure he was feeling left out). So he was our designated chofer. He was so great; he dropped us off, came and picked us up, and even called us every hour on the dot to see how it was going! Well, he drove us to the middle of a highway, and we quickly jumped out and ran to the side of the road avoiding all the cars. He drove away and there we were – ready to start the journey! We were not alone; there were thousands of people walking with us. As far as the eye could see, there were people making the same journey. Along the way there were vendors selling merchandise – fruit, drinks, rain jackets, snacks, and Mary paraphernalia.
Every few miles we passed Red Cross stations with medical staff ready and prepared for anything. There were also people handing out free stuff. Before we had even walked a mile, some guy handed us some pain medicine (some type of Motrin I think) and was like: Here, you’re going to need this! This made me a little scared…

A good majority of the walk was uphill, due to this, and all the street vendors and things to see, we moved at a pretty slow pace. After walking about four miles, we stopped for cafécito at a random little church along the way. You know you are in Costa Rica when you take a break from something like this for cafécito!! Celcy had packed energy refreshments: Gatorade, chocolate, and cookies – a diet of champions!

The walk took us five hours in total – but it seemed like so much longer. I had my Nike watch on so I was able to clock the distance – 11 miles exactly. I was the designated backpack carrier. I’m pretty accustomed to caring heavy backpacks (going to a college that is build on a hill will do that to you). At first I didn’t even notice the weight on my back. As time and miles progressed, it started to feel heavier and heavier. Then my back actually started aching. I kept shifting the weight as best as I could to give my muscles some relief. Somewhere around mile 9 or 10, I stopped noticing my backache. I had grown accustomed to it and no longer noticed it. This was a good reminder of what sin is like in our lives and what Jesus can do for us. Sin is always fun, isn’t it? It’s enjoyable at first. Slowly, as the sin remains in our lives, it starts to weigh heavier on our souls. It separates us from God, and we carry the weight and consequences of it. Unconffesed sin starts to build-up, and eventually, if we continue in this state, we quench the Holy Spirit and grow numb to our sin. We become desensitized. This sin can be settle - worry, insecurity, pride, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, anger, or it can be more physical – sexual sin, stealing, cheating, lying etc. We carry these burdens; however, He has paid the price for us so that we don’t have to be enslaved to these burdens. Worry is a good example of this. Life blows in so many storms, and I can easily become enslaved to fear and the need to be in control and worry can start to consume me. I can try so hard on my own and that burden is hard to carry. The bible says:

Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall. Psalm 55:2

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand. Psalm 37:23,24

As I was walking and begrudging the weight on my back, I prayed that God would help me to never carry any burdens or sins, but that He would give me a hate for sin as He has. And that I would recognize and listen to the voice of the Holy spirit in my life – never growing desensitized to sin so that I would immediately know when I have sinned and rid my spirit of the burden through immediate repentance.

Well the walk continued on for five hours. I had prayed that God would give me opportunities to share the gospel with Celcy and our neighbors along the way. I tried several times to start such conversations, but they never went very far, unfortunately. I asked them why they couldn’t just talk to Jesus directly. Our neighbor told me that it’s because Jesus is just too busy. I asked them: but isn’t Mary busy? They quickly responded no and changed the subject. On another attempt I asked them why Mary was their mediator to God when the Bible says that Jesus is our only mediator. To this they gave me an explanation about how Mary is very holy and can talk to God for them, but that they can also talk to Jesus if they want to. And gain, the subject was quickly changed. I finally just said that I talk to Jesus directly and love Him and that I wouldn’t be worshiping Mary.

We finally made it to the city of Cartago… our excitement was growing – at any moment we would see the church and end our long journey. By this time, the sun was long gone, and the chilly night air was refreshing on our tired and sweaty bodies. At last, we could see the lights from the large and extravagant church in the far off distance! I’ve never before been so excited to see a Catholic church! There were thousands of people at the church! It was quite spectacular. Police blocked off the entire perimeter of the church. The only cars that were allowed to get close were taxis, so that the people could return home. Once we approached the church doors, I insisted on waiting outside with all the bags while the others went in to see Mary. I had already made it clear that I was only along for the journey and didn’t want to do any of the Mary worshiping. As I sat in the doorway and waited for the others, I took-in all that was going on. As soon as the people arrived at the doors of the church, they got onto their knees and prayerfully inched towards the front where Mary, the priests, and the nuns where. Some people were crying, some had their heads to the floor, some people had children and babies, and some were praying out loud.

The whole thing saddened and numbed me at the same time. There were SO many people! All of them were so close, and yet so so far away from the truth. They believe in Jesus Christ, but He’s not their savior – there is still so much that they are missing and so much that they have added to the gospel (I’m not saying that every Catholic is not saved. I’m sure there are some who have a saving relationship with Christ – but it’s not the majority.). All of them have so much dedication (they just walked for hours –days even to come and worship and pray to Mary! How many Christians would be willing to do the same for Christ?) And they have so much faith - they earnestly believe in what they practice. The whole thing is just very sad.

After the others finished at the church, Willy came and picked us up and we all went and had dinner at the house of la China (She is one of their friends who lives in Cartago. This was my second time at her house – she is a very good friend of theirs. I’m not sure what her actual name is… she is not Chinese, but her eyes have some resemblance of Chinese eyes and therefore we all call her la china….)

At the end of the day, I was eager to go to bed! My tired body slept like a baby! It was a great experience and I’m glad that I went. ☺